Door knocker

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

With the widespread availability of brass, cheaper and easier to work than bronze, the middle classes could aspire to own artistically inventive household objects. Brass foundries were initially associated with the Netherlandish Meuse region, particularly the town of Dinant, prompting the designation dinanderie for such objects. Following the Sack of Dinant, Nuremberg became the industry’s center, producing works for the open market. Objects like these brought simplified versions of the latest designs to a wide class of consumers. [Elizabeth Cleland, 2017]

European Sculpture and Decorative Arts

An exhibit at Metropolitan Museum of Art

The fifty thousand objects in the Museum's comprehensive and historically important collection of European sculpture and decorative arts reflect the development of a number of art forms in Western European countries from the early fifteenth through the early twentieth century. The holdings include sculpture in many sizes and media, woodwork and furniture, ceramics and glass, metalwork and jewelry, horological and mathematical instruments, and tapestries and textiles. Ceramics made in Asia for export to European markets and sculpture and decorative arts produced in Latin America during this period are also included among these works.

Metropolitan Museum of Art